The Slide

I guess when you like to climb, it is inevitable that you'd like to slide down.  Finn loves both activities.  In fact, when he's inconsolable, the slide may often be the only answer.  He can now climb up and slide down independently.  In fact, he is so confident in his abilities that he is experimenting with different methods of going down the slide.  This past week he discovered head first on his belly, and standing up.  For those who are curious, no you cannot slide down while standing up.  The end result is something more akin to a log roll right off the side of the slide that leaves both Finn laughing in sheer joy and mom laughing just out of pure relief that no bone was broken.  Ahhhh......this kid will give me gray hair!  (If you listen closely, you can hear him saying "weeee" in the video.)

Valentine's Day

So, we're a little late but I wanted to document Valentine's Day this year.  For the first year, it seemed that Kai was really aware of the day and what it meant.  He was excited for it, which I'm sure was compounded by the fact that I decided to have a playgroup Valentine's Day party at our house.  We invited friends over for a little brunch and Valentine's Day activities the Friday before the big day.  Kai was extremely excited about it and was very eager for his friends to come.  We ended up having 3 other moms with their collective 5 other kids that morning.  While it would have been more fun to have a bigger turnout, we found that the group of kids we had was just the right size for us.  The kids enjoyed playing and eating their cinnamon rolls, fruit, and french toast sticks and the adults enjoyed gabbing.  Then we moved to the kitchen table where we made Valentine's and frosted cookies.  It was a lot of fun.

When I told Kai that we would make cards for Valentine's Day he immediately knew he wanted to make a card for--Sister Smith, his primary teacher.  He was so anxious to make her a card and take it to her at church that it just melted my heart.  With everything going on during the party, I wasn't around to help him and he ended up making a fantastic card all by himself.  After he gave it to her on Sunday, he came home and wanted to make another one.  He said this one would be for his "other Best Friend, Sister Horton".  Sister Horton is our Relief Society president, my former VTing companion, and a neighbor who so willingly watches the boys for me when I need it.  Her daughter, Megan, has become our favorite babysitter.  So, here's the card he made that night.  It was so good that we didn't want to give it away, and he never mentioned it again.  But I still feel like I should at least send her an email and tell her to read this blog!  :)  This second card was nearly identical in design to his first card.  He wrote his name in glitter pen and then he used a heart sticker which he filled in with more glitter pen.  He did this completely on his own!

Once Valentine's Day arrived, Finn and I were feeling pretty sick.  We spent the day lounging around and finally took Finn into the pediatrician.  While everything checked out well, the pediatrician was worried about the hoarseness of his voice.  His biggest concern was that Finn had croup.  So, we left the doctor with a prescription in hand and hearing all the warning about what to do if.....(fill in the blank).  I was also sick and tired, so I called Reid and asked him to pick-up dinner on his way home.  While he did that, Kai excitedly made us our Valentine's Day presents.  He made a card and decorated a sugar cookie for both of us.  He was so excited to show his daddy when he came home.

Reid picked up Subway on the way home, as well as some flowers and chocolates for me, and a card and chocolates for Kai.  Honestly, Kai's enthusiasm for the day made it a wonderful Valentine's Day.  I'm looking forward to next year and hope to make it even more special for the wonderful boys I have in my life!

Kai's loot--a homemade card from me, chocolate, and an awesome Cars card that plays the movie's theme song.  Kai LOVED it!

The card Kai made for Reid.  He used so much glitter pen that it has curled at the edges.

The cards he made for me (left) and Finn (right).  On the card I made for him it said "I Love You" on the inside, so he began adding that to his cards.  Once again, he did it himself by copying what I had written.

Things that Make Me Laugh

Kai had me laughing so hard this morning.  It felt good!  It probably wouldn't be as funny to anyone else, but I'm a little tired this morning so maybe I'm loopy.

We were playing in the living room (which isn't exactly a toy mecca) and so we were doing more creative games.  Kai loves computer games and so he started creating his own.  "Click here for games." (and then he would point to a space in the air)  "Click here for toys."  (followed by more pointing)  "Click here for....etc."  It made me laugh!  So, I would choose a spot to click and then the sub-menus would follow.  There were even games where I had to push the arrow keys on my keyboard to get him to move.  Yes, he used that correct terminology, and yes, he's addicted to the computer.

After a little bit of playing "computer" with him, I had to take Finn to the kitchen to feed him.  Kai continued to play with his dad.  Somehow the game turned into doctor.  I overhear Reid asking "So, what's the diagnosis?" to which Kai replies "Dirty tongue!"  I was laughing so hard it hurt.  I bet you don't blame Reid for refusing to let Kai continue to treat his ailment.

Oh, it was so good to laugh so hard this morning.  Thank you Kai!

The Best Laugh

AKA.  Stinky Feet!  This was taken last month before his haircut (yes, he needed it bad!).  I'm sorry it's so late.  I was having a hard time posting it.

I'm So Glad When Brother Comes Homes

On Saturday Reid and Kai went out to Wal-Mart together.  Finn and I stayed home as Finn was starting to get sick.  When the boys returned just a little while later Finn and I were in the basement.  Kai handed me the groceries, and then the next thing I knew, Finn walked up to Kai and gave him a hug.  This started a hugging game that the boys just loved.  Kai was so happy that his brother had hugged him and missed him.

Between the Storms

The first weekend in February we were hit with a decent-sized snow storm.  The first snow fall began Saturday afternoon and went throughout the night.  By Sunday morning it was apparent that church was going to be cancelled.  It was.  We spent the days at home playing and enjoying family time.  On Monday, it was actually pretty warm outside and made for a great day to play in the snow.  Since we were still buried in snow Reid had taken our car to work.  The forecast was calling for more snow beginning Monday evening, so we thought we'd take the chance to play while we were between the storms.  The kids had a blast for about an hour.

All ready to play.

Deep snow

Walking on the driveway.

Kai played a buried treasure game.  I hid his sand bucket and he found it with the shovel.

Once we started to get cold, Finn and I retreated to the garage.  Kai was still loving it outside.

Early Tuesday morning the snow started again.  I'll admit that I didn't think it looked any different outside on Tuesday than it did Monday, but it turns out it actually had snowed several more inches.  There was now a snow drift about a foot deep in our driveway.  Once again, Reid took our car to work and we stayed inside to play.  It was really, really cold outside.

When Wednesday came and Reid still needed our car to get to work, I decided to see what I could do.  The weather was warmer, in the high 20's/low 30's, and so, while Finn napped, Kai and I shoveled our driveway.  It was great exercise and when I was done I was quite proud of myself.  Those who have been to our house know that our driveway isn't exactly short.  I was surprised that it only took a little over an hour to get the worst of the snow off.  And I was happy that when Reid got home he was able to get his car out.  Even Kai was excited to have our car back after being at home for 4 and 1/2 days straight!

Couponing

I have to start this post by acknowledging just how blessed we have been these last five and half years.  Admittedly, we have had times where we worried about how expensive something may be and that it might make things a bit "tight", but I can honestly say that we've never been in a scary place.  The first two years of our marriage we both worked full-time jobs (and honestly we worked more than full-time) that paid pretty well.  I was blessed to receive 4 promotions in 2 years as well as numerous performance awards, something that was unprecedented in my office.  Reid has also done well at his job and has received a couple of promotions and awards.  And then, of course, we transitioned to one income.  The first few months were scary more because of the unknown, but it worked out ok.  We sold our house and moved to Colorado and that turned out pretty well, too.  Now we have two kids, two cars, one income, and unfortunately the reality is that expenses are climbing.  Finn's medical expenses are getting, well, expensive.  And then we will be adding in the cost of preschool for Kai this fall.  Also, not cheap.  The economy has made Reid's job situation a bit precarious these past two years or so, and the value of our home has fallen.  All of this added together made it necessary for me to really start thinking about our expenses and where we could cut back.

In July last year, we began using mint.com to track our expenses.  It's a fabulous program!!  It has been absolutely easy to use and a great way to really see where our money is going.  Within just months of watching our expenses I quickly realized that our grocery expenses could easily be reduced.  I had been following a local bargain shopping blog for about a year but had never really done anything about it.  There was no better time to try I thought, and so in September I began my preparations.  I signed up for Grocery University and learned a bit about the best way to coupon and then I set a few ground rules and goals for myself.  I began by saying that I was not going to shop more than our two local grocery stories.  There would be no trips to the city to shop other stores where "the deals were better".  I still had my two kids that needed to come with me, and so I couldn't be driving all over the place.  I also knew that I didn't want to be a crazy couponer.  If there was something that was not on sale that we wanted, we would buy it, but at Wal-Mart where it's generally priced lower.  I definitely did not want to become one of those people who only eats what's on sale.  My goal with all of this was to reduce our grocery expenses by a certain dollar amount.  And so I started my couponing journey in October.

I can honestly say that I quickly began to see that this would be a bit of work, but not something that was unmanageable.  I cut and organize coupons, sort through ads and blog recommendations, and then make a shopping list all while watching TV with Reid in the evenings.  Sometimes it takes two or three evenings a week, but it's definitely been worth it.  I began seeing results pretty quickly.  There has been a learning curve to this and I have made some rookie mistakes but with the results I was seeing, I was quickly hooked.

What I really wanted to share today, though, was my excitement over my biggest couponing conquest to date.  It happened in early January.  We had just made a trip to CostCo (something that's becoming less common as I have learned that their prices really aren't that good) and had forgotten to pick up fruit snacks.  I told Reid not to worry about it and that I would take care of it.  In my mind I figured I would find them on sale, or use a coupon, or something.  I had no idea that just a week later I would find the sale of the year.  (As a side note, this not normal for me.  I have been averaging 33-50% savings, but occasionally something like this will come along that you just can't pass up!)

Here's what happened:

Betty Crocker Fruit Snacks are priced at $3.49/ box at Safeway, $2.99/box at King Soopers, and $2/box at Wal-Mart.  In early January, Safeway ran a sale on the fruit snacks.  You could get them for $.99/box as long as you bought four boxes.  At the same time, there were several coupons out for the same product AND there was a catalina deal running on them as well.  I ended up making three trips to Safeway in one week just to take advantage of the sale.  Here's how it worked out:

Trip 1:

Bought 6 boxes @ $.99/box  = $5.94 (another wonderful thing about CO is that there is no sales tax on unprepared food aka. groceries!)
Used 3 coupons for $.50 off of 2 boxes.  Safeway will double coupons up to $1, so these coupons became $1/2.  Total = $2.94.

After paying my $2.94 I received a catalina for $3.00 off of my next shopping trip.  So basically, they handed me a penny for every box I wanted!!

Trip 2:

Bought 7 boxes @ $.99/box = $6.93
Used 2 $.50/2 coupons and 1 $1/3 = $3 off or $3.93
Used my $3 catalina
Total = $.93 for 7 boxes!!
This receipt said that I saved 98% off of my order!  I was ecstatic!

And I received another $3 catalina!

Trip 3:

Bought 4 boxes @ $.99/box = $3.94
Used 1 $1/3 coupon = $1 off or $2.94
Used my $3 catalina
Total = -$.06  (I bought other things on this trip so they just took $.06 off of the total)

And then I received another catalina, this time for $2 (since I only bought 4.)

Total out of pocket was $3.81, but I still had a $2 catalina left.  So really, it was just $1.81 for 17 boxes of fruit snacks!!  This is definitely the cheapest food storage I've ever had.

So, if you've reached the bottom of this post, I'm impressed.  Seriously, I don't expect anyone else to get as excited about my conquest as I have.  I just wanted to write some of this down so that I can look back in 50 years at some of the things that I was doing.  And of course, it'll be humorous to see just how "cheap" food was in 2011.  Remember the stories your grandparents tell of penny candy?  Yeah, it'll be like that!

Lunch Fun with Finn (A Sequence of Photos)

Finn decided it would be fun to try and put the cookie cutter on his head.

Here he's working hard to get it just right.

Here it's beginning to stay.

Here he's beyond thrilled at his accomplishment (and the laughter and cheering that he's getting from me).

Here the cookie cutter begins to fall.

Here he is trying to figure out how to get it back on.

The ending meltdown when he was unsuccessful at repeating his trick.

New Floors

We decided that while we were having contractors come out to fix the floor under the dishwasher that we would also get a quote on having some of our carpet replaced with vinyl.  One quote we got was too good to pass up and so we went for it.  In the past, we had industrial carpet in our pantry and regular carpet in our bathroom (yes, you can say Ewwww!).  This past Monday we had vinyl put down in both areas.  It took a lot longer than I  was told it would and it definitely made me grouchy that day, but I do love the look the of our new floors.  What do you think??

Here's the only picture I can find of the pantry carpet BEFORE.

The pantry after.

The new bathroom vinyl.  (Sorry, I can't find any before shots.)

Finn loved trying it out!